The
Cup final opposed the losers of the championship: Benfica vs FC
Porto. Bronze vs silver, both teams ambitious to win a trophy. As
often is the case between equal rivals, the final was tight and won
minimally by Benfica 1-0.
FC
Porto ended well the season – second in both championship and cup
tournament. But second is not first... they lost twice minimally. A
good team, but not great and perhaps not polished yet. But FC Porto
established firmly itself among the very best Portuguese clubs and
clearly was going to be a constant factor.
Benfica
won the Cup and thus saved the season, but they fooled no one: the
team was not so great, it needed new and better players, if Benfica
wanted to live up to its reputation. At the moment, they were losing
steam in Portugal and were not a leading club on European scale. As a
whole, Benfica, FC Porto, and Lisbon shared the same problem – very
few stars. Portugal needed a new strong generation of players and so
far there were none.